The Not a Forgery Forgery
by WildHorseFantasy
Summary: When is a forgery not a forgery? Kramer has found Neal's signature on a painting. Neal claims the Rubens isn't a forgery and he didn't paint it. So how did his signature get there? It's up to Peter to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar, I just dream in there world.**

_**This is a sequel to 'Proven' but should stand alone.**_

* * *

Peter was staring with some sense of dread at the evidence. Kramer was sitting across from him studying him, rather than the painting. Neal strode into the room, responding to Hughes double finger point.

"How are you doing Caffrey?" Kramer asked.

Neal still held his arm stiffly due to the mild pain from his gunshot wound. He'd been hit defending Peter during a take down. Kramer had been there and witnessed it. He'd apologized to Neal in the hospital for thinking he was conning Peter. Nonetheless, Neal still cringed inwardly at the sight of him. The fact that the man looked smug right now was disturbing.

"Better. I thought you went home." He still wasn't cleared for more than desk duty. But he'd been going stir crazy at home. So Peter was letting him in to do some light paperwork for at least a few hours. Neal had never thought he'd take such delight in doing mortgage fraud.

"I came back. New evidence on this forgery case."

He looked at Peter, who was not looking at him, but at the Rubens forgery. They'd recovered the original in a recent sting. Neal had suggested the name of who could have done the forgery while he was in the hospital. But he hadn't had a chance to look at it.

Neal sat, not really up to standing for long. "What's up?" He ignored Kramer now and tried to catch Peter's eye. Peter looked at him with genuine concern wrinkling his brow. Not a good sign. Peter nudged the forgery over to him and handed him a magnifying glass. Neal stared at Peter rather than the painting. Peter tapped a certain point, still not speaking. Neal leaned over and studied it through the magnifier. His breath went out in a startled gasp, partly from pain as he bent over too far and partly surprise. He drew back, ignoring the pain and then looked again. Stepped back in confusion and stared at the painting.

Peter's face relaxed a bit on his reaction. If there was one person who could read his genuine surprise it was Peter.

"Hmmm." Neal sat back down and stared hard at the painting, as if willing it to speak. "Could you prop it up?"

Peter propped it up on an easel. Neal stared at it, studying it carefully.

"Any explanation?" Kramer studied him. "That is your signature."

"I would not be stupid enough to sign a forgery."

"You signed the bonds."

"Even then it was only initials!"

"So they forged your signature?" Peter asked. Neal spotted the look of disagreement between him and Kramer.

Kramer commented, "I'm sure there are a lot of undiscovered Neal Caffrey's forgeries out there."

"This is not among those alleged forgeries. I did not forge that!" Neal cocked his head, momentarily too busy analyzing the painting to focus on Kramer.

"You said it was probably a Rayve from Italy."

"I did. He specializes in Rubens."

"Why would he sign your name?"

Neal's eyes slid half shut, considering the question seriously. He knew Peter was looking for the answer even if Kramer was ready to judge him guilty. He didn't personally know Rayve. Nor was this Rubens one he'd ever targeted. So what did they have in common? What did he have in common with Rayve besides forgery in general?

It had been a long time since he'd been in Europe. Who did he know, that knew Rayve..., "Oh." Neal blinked as a memory hit. He was not especially keen to share it with Kramer or even Peter. In point of fact, looking back, it was rather stupid. He was proud of how he'd pulled it off, but he'd never envisioned this particular scenario coming from it.

"Any ideas? It's only Peter's determination and your being injured saving him that have kept me from calling in the marshals." Kramer pointed out.

Hughes, Neal noticed, was following the conversation but letting it play out.

Neal considered. "Well now, are you planning to arrest me? Because if I'm under arrest, I'm calling a lawyer first."

Peter rolled his eyes, knowing it would be Mozzie. It was hard to picture Mozzie dealing with Kramer though.

"If not, yeah, I probably do know..." He winced a little.

"You know who did this?"

"It wasn't recent."

Peter looked alarmed.

"And no, it wasn't me! I mean, it's not a forgery...or not meant to be..."

"Caffrey, just spit it out." Hughes finally sounded impatient.

"It was Brian Rayvner."

"Rayv."

"No. Just a relative. Good up and coming artist, not really a forger."

"And he signed your name, why?"

Neal sank down a little in the chair.

Peter winced inwardly. Neal hadn't forged the piece. But he apparently had done something that wasn't something he wanted to share.

"We had a dare."

"Dare?"

Neal flushed uncertainly. "That wasn't really meant to be a forgery. It was a copy made in art school. He was an art student and I was...touring."

"What's that got to do with the dare?"

"He dared me to...do something at the school and if I pulled it off he'd sign it and I'd sign his. It was an art school practice painting. Not. A. Forgery." Neal said firmly. "I can prove it."

"Show me."

Neal rose reluctantly and flipped the painting around. Eyes darting around, he found the spot he was looking for and lightly scraped at it. Underneath was the signature, Brian Rayvner and a date.

"I don't know why it was passed off as a forgery. Brian didn't mean to be a forger. But he was really good."

"Neal?" Peter asked slowly.

"Yeah?"

"If you signed this as a dare, what did he sign of yours?"

Neal shifted uncomfortably. "Does it matter?"

"Maybe it has something to do with why this is a forgery. Maybe he wants to get even. Did you tank his career at the school?"

"Of course not!" Neal sputtered. Then he amended. "Well, they might've been a little upset..."

Peter gave him a pointed look.

"I replaced the statue in the main hall with one of mine. It was, again, not a forgery. It looked different. On purpose. They thought it had been...um...altered."

"Neal!" Peter growled.

"What! I was a kid! It was a prank!" Neal was defensive. But a hint of a smirk was there in his face. Peter could see it.

"What happened to the original statue?" Peter demanded.

Hughes was rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Kramer looked back and forth with interest.

"Oh. Nothing. I just moved it to a classroom and hung coats on it. The dean was livid..."

"And this Brian took the blame?"

"Credit. He took credit. It was a heavy statue. No-one could figure out how I...he...moved it unnoticed." Neal smiled. "They never did either, as far as I know."

Peter had his palm over his face. "You...must've been one big handful as a kid."

Neal blinked at this.

"And he didn't get kicked out?" Kramer finally put in.

"No. His parents had a lot of pull at the place. Last I heard, he was doing a small art show of his own."

"What about those parents? Just because they had pull doesn't mean they were thrilled to use it."

Neal's eyes widened. His eyes darted to the painting, out the window. He stayed silent.

"And...one of these parents was the forger?" Peter pressed.

"Uncle.." he muttered. "Oh." Neal shook his head. "I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't. Suppose they decided it was payback time? You didn't get in any trouble for it at all did you?"

Neal gave a helpless shrug. "Well, I wasn't there for much longer..."

"What were you doing there in the first place?" Peter asked.

Neal just gave him a wide eyed look, glancing between Hughes and Kramer and keeping his mouth firmly shut.

"Oh...go home." Peter sighed. "Just...go home and stay there, Peter Pan and let me straighten this out." He shook his head after him.

Neal hurried out the door.

* * *

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

_To the person who asked if he signed it why would it be considered a forgery: consider 'the Dutchman' and Neal in the Pilot. The Dutchman tucked his signature discreetly into a bond forgery and so did Neal. But only if it was closely examined could you find it and realize it was, in fact, a forgery._

* * *

"What are you going to do about this, Petey?"

Peter was not feeling like a Petey. Having Kramer call him by his pet name right now rankled. "I'm going to look into it."  
"You believe him?"

"Do I believe he'd pull something like that? Oh of course he would. I'm going to confirm it though. He sighed. It's international. I'll be up in the middle of the night making phone calls." He grumbled. He glanced at Kramer. "I know your still expecting to get something on him."

"He did a lot more than he's paid for Pete."

"Justice isn't just about punishment. It's about reform and repayment and the punishment fitting the crime." Peter glared at him. "And maybe you haven't figured it out by now, but contrary to the easy belief that eighteen is a mature age, Neal sure as heck isn't...wasn't... totally mature. But he is getting there."

"And how do you expect him to repay the millions of dollars damage to society?"  
"By serving it." Peter's voice was flat. "Not rotting in a prison system warehouse that'll just cost society more."

"If he's like this now, I pity whoever raised him." Kramer stated. "Unless of course, they were just like him. They probably were."

Peter went home, with a list of places to call to try and confirm Neal's story. He'd also called and enlisted Mozzie, pointing out he'd better get him the right numbers if he didn't have them if he didn't want Neal charged with forgery again.

Kramer's remark bothered him. He was sorry he hadn't gotten to know Ellen Parker better. He suspected she'd never share anything Neal didn't want her too. But he also knew that he respected her greatly for someone he'd barely met. Anyone that could handle a young Neal Caffrey, possibly on a sugar high, in his adolescent years must truly have been remarkable.

By morning, he was red eyed from talking to people overseas. He was sneezing on dust from plugging in the old fax machine and still looking for emails and proof of the incident that would confirm Neal's dare. Pictures weren't too hard to come by. Even in the age before cell phone cameras were common, a fair number of people had taken shots and posted since on the internet.

"So did you find what you needed it to clear it up?" Elizabeth asked, handing him coffee.

"I found lots of proof of what happened and even the art is online. Here, they just got it up." Peter swiveled the laptop to reveal early Brian Rayvner paintings on a web gallery.

"So that's good, isn't it?"

"Well, getting hold of the guy is a bit of a problem. He's an artist. Enough of one to have an agent and lawyers. All I want is an answer to a simple question and I'm playing phone tag and getting a run around!"

"The question being did they have a dare."

"Exactly. And please put it in writing. Okay, also, how did his painting end up used as a forgery."

Peter went to work late after a short namp and was still out of sorts when he arrived. Neal glanced up from his desk as Peter glowered down at him.

"Rough night?" Neal dared ask.

"After spending all night confirming your story? Yes. And I still haven't."

Neal looked surprised and disturbed at this and Peter savored the fact that he realized the trouble he was in. He wasn't above thinking it unfair that he should have the sleepless night and the prankster had slept like a log. "Why not? It was pretty commonly known. It even made the papers." Neal was frowning.

"I haven't confirmed how you were involved." Peter's voice was firm. "It could be argued..," his voice lowered for privacy.., " that you stole it, signed it and used it for the forgery."

"Who'd have thought covering my tracks so well would be a bad thing." Neal observed. "What exactly do I need to prove that painting was not created by me and was not meant as a forgery, no matter how it got there?"

"A statement from Brian Rayvner about the dare and information on what happened to the painting."

"Oh. I'd have thought you'd talk to him first thing."

"I tried. I've got art agents and lawyers in the way. Plus a whole different time zone."

"Oh." Neal blinked at him thoughtfully, fiddling with his pencil. "Sorry, I forgot, he's not much with phones. He just redirects if he doesn't know you. I'll get you his private line."

"You have his private line?"

"Well...yeah."

Peter closed his eyes. "And you didn't think to mention this yesterday?"

"You didn't ask."

Peter forced his legs to move before he gave into the urge to strangle his CI, born of sleeplessness and frustration.

Neal brought him the number right after lunch. It still took time to get through and then with some bickering and bantering over the speakerphone, Neal told Brian what he wanted and why. Peter was listening in and noted with interest that Brian really did know him as 'Neal' not one of his other aliases.  
Brian fell silent, after snickering at the memory of the escapade. "I don't know. I'll fax you the statement or mail it...signed affidavit. But I don't know where the painting went. It vanished right when I moved. I thought it was just lost. Hey, can I get it back?"

"It'll be in evidence at least for awhile. It might be quicker if you know who took it." Peter told him.  
"I don't. But if you work with the police on this end, I'll get them looking into who took it."

Peter handed over the affidavit from Brian Rayvner to Hughes. He showed it to Kramer. Much back and forth between London and the White Collar unit brought up the name Davinski, a low rent driver who helped Brian move and had ties to his Uncle the forger. Apparently he'd been looking to make a quick buck and decided the old painting from art school was good enough to sell as a fake.

"So Caffrey's name being on it was a coincidence?" Hughes shook his head.

"His luck will run out, Peter. He hasn't been caught on everything." Kramer stated.

"He's an asset. And unless and until he chooses to go back to that life, I believe he's earned the benefit of the doubt." Peter said firmly.

Hughes, he noticed with relief, did not contradict.

Kramer left, not looking angry but not gone for good either.

"Peter."

Peter turned to look back at Hughes.

"We can't give him a free pass on everything he did in the past if it comes up." Hughes said softly.

"There has to be better alternatives than sending him back. After working for us, it would be a death sentence no matter how careful we were."

Hughes sighed. "Just be careful. And make sure he's careful. Because if something does come up, how willing Caffrey is to accept responsibility will affect how we can help him."

"He's been accepting it. Far more than in the past."

"It may take some faith Peter. On his side, not just yours, or ours. He has to admit he made mistakes and be willing to own up."

"I know."

Peter went out and gave Neal the news.

"I'm thrilled to disappoint Kramer once again."

"I'm thrilled you managed it." Peter sighed. "But I would love to know what you were doing at that art school. Because I know you weren't there just for the art education."

Neal just gave him that classic Caffrey grin and walked back to his desk.

* * *

The End


End file.
